News Release: Swope Health, Metropolitan Community College, Full Employment Council align for strategic partnership in healthcare workforce
- Communications
- 1 day ago
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Kansas City, MO (April 17, 2025) - Swope Health, Metropolitan Community College and the Full Employment Council have partnered to establish a high-quality, six-month program to train certified medical assistants at no cost for most participants. To commemorate the launch, a brief memorandum of understanding signing ceremony was held Thursday, April 17, at Swope Health (3801 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Kansas City, Mo.).
To be considered for the program, students must interview and submit to background checks. Once hired into the apprenticeship program, participants will be trained from curriculum designed and delivered by Swope Health and MCC healthcare professionals. The first student cohort will begin in June 2025, with two cohort groups of 6-10 students to be trained per year. Upon successful completion of the program, students will be prepared to take the National Healthcareer Association’s (NHA’s) certification exam to become a Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA).
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the medical assistant field is expected to continue growing over the course of the next decade at a rate of 15% -- much faster than the average rate for most occupations. Additionally, the program addresses a major skills gap that has been identified in the healthcare field for medical assistants in Kansas City and the surrounding region.
To secure funding for the program, the FEC worked to have the training course designated as an approved apprenticeship through the U.S. Department of Labor. The FEC has provided more than 500 registered apprenticeships since 2015.
“Full Employment Council is enthusiastic about connecting local workers with good, quality jobs at Swope Health,” said Full Employment Council CEO Clyde McQueen. “Apprenticeship has been a proven pathway to developing individuals to advance them within careers, while helping employers address workforce challenges.”
MCC Chancellor Dr. Kimberly Beatty said the partnership exemplifies the College’s commitment to serving communities and creating opportunities for all.
“MCC works incredibly hard to meet the evolving needs of our students and community, and that includes by responding proactively when it comes to addressing shortages in the workforce,” she said.
“By joining forces with Swope Health and the Full Employment Council, we’re creating affordable career pathways for our students, but we’re also going a long way toward meeting the healthcare needs of the area’s most vulnerable populations.”
While the first few sessions will meet virtually, the program will later transition to a hybrid format, with classes held at Swope Health Central and MCC-Penn Valley’s Health Science Institute in state-of-the-art lab spaces.
In addition, high-level discussions have begun about hosting the program within Swope Health Village, Swope Health’s 12-acre, multi-phased campus that is due to break ground later this year, as part of a potential healthcare workforce training center. Eventually, the training program will expand to include other in-demand healthcare positions.
“Providing accessible, compassionate healthcare requires strategy and teamwork,” said Swope Health President and CEO Jeron L. Ravin, J.D. “At Swope Health, we know that medical assistants are an extremely important part of medical teams. It is therefore gratifying to team with MCC and the Full Employment Council to help ensure that more well-skilled, compassionate medical professionals will be developed to reduce the primary care shortage and provide the patients in our region with the high-quality, comprehensive care they deserve.”
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About Metropolitan Community College: Established in 1915, MCC is Kansas City’s oldest public institution of higher education and educates more than 17,000 students annually through credit and noncredit courses and business services. MCC is one college with five campuses – MCC-Blue River, MCC-Longview, MCC-Maple Woods, MCC-Online and MCC-Penn Valley. The MCC mission: Preparing students, serving communities, creating opportunities for all.
About Swope Health: Swope Health has provided comprehensive primary care, dental care, and behavioral health services in the Greater Kansas City area for 55 years. Recognized as a patient-centered medical home by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, Swope Health’s commitment to an integrated model of healthcare aligns with its mission of improving community health and wellness by delivering accessible, quality, comprehensive patient care. Accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities and The Joint Commission, Swope Health is also recognized as a Federally Qualified Health Center. Swope Health served 53,865 patients in 2024 and is in 23 locations throughout the area, including Kansas City, Belton, Independence, north of the river, Hickman Mills, and Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties in Kansas.
About Full Employment Council: The Full Employment Council, Inc. (FEC) is the Managing Entity/Fiscal Agent for the Kansas City & Vicinity Workforce Development Board and the Eastern Jackson County Workforce Development Board. FEC is certified by the Missouri Division of Higher Education and Workforce Development to operate the Missouri Job Centers that serve Jackson, Clay, Cass, Platte and Ray counties.
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